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A spookily good time was had Oct. 28 during Tsalteshi Trails Association’s second annual Spook Night. Community and municipal organizations as well as businesses sponsored activity stations along our trick-or-treat trail, and about 200 kids came out with their families to enjoy the fun. After costume judging for kids, adults and dogs, our 5-kilometer Zombie Run lurched into motion with nearly 50 entries, complete with a volunteer zombie scare crew. Once the sun started to go down, hot beverages and chili were available to help warm up.

As a former superior court judge here in Anchorage, I am dismayed and disheartened by the politically-motivated last-minute attack on Judge Sen Tan by the so-called “Alaska Family Action” group, which was reported in the Anchorage Daily News.

I have a distrust of whoever is in power. Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, I don’t trust any of them with the power they constantly wrestle for. At this moment I lean toward the conservative side, simply because I’m currently watching a liberal power base take liberties with my liberties. However one thing that has become clear to me over my lifetime is the brilliance of our forefathers in the creation of this republic in which we live. Despite all the selfish, self-centered interests that want to manipulate it into their own design, it still survives.

Last week, during the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting, Mayor Navarre read three proclamations. Two concerned behavior I have observed over my lifetime, Domestic Violence and Workplace Bullying. Assembly member Linda Murphy made comments about the Mayor’s proclamations. She commented how she experienced domestic violence, at a time, when it was not talked about. She also stated how the mayor was going to show us where all the bullies are. She chuckled at the end of her second statement. She acted like she had no clue, what the mayor was referencing.

A big thank you to the Clarion for the front page article on Oct. 29. Especially from Alaska’s Extended Life Animal Shelter and Alaska Equine Rescue! Animal neglect, abandonment and abuse has been a problem here on the Kenai Peninsula since I arrived and settled here in the 1980s. The issue may only be raised to the administration or the assembly “periodically” — however the problem has simply gotten worst as the years have passed.

Some people are claiming that Alaska is experiencing some kind of salmon crisis but is that what is really happening? If there were a real salmon crisis most would expect the blame to be directed towards either a freshwater or saltwater source problem. Freshwater fishermen would claim the problem to be in the saltwater and saltwater fishermen claim it to be in the freshwater. Some even see it as all sides just catching to many fish.

Kenai Peninsula voters will notice a couple of uncontested races on their November 6 ballot. There is no Democrat or Independent running for the Senate District O seat (Kenai south to Homer of the House District 29 seat (Kenai-Soldotna-Kasilof area). The two Republicans won their primaries and are now unopposed on the ballot. They have stated their support for their party platform which does not trust women to make their own reproductive decisions.

Senator Begich’s ideas as noted in “Voices of Alaska” (Oct. 18) for budget cuts are miniscule as they relate to the trillion dollar deficits the Obama administration incurs every year. His track record as Mayor of Anchorage parallels that of President Obama. Under his administration taxes increased substantially and he left the city of Anchorage with a twenty million dollar shortfall.

I was recently reading through the new city comprehensive plan and found a couple of goals that seem to reflect majority public sentiment that I’ve heard expressed in numerous public forums over the past few years: A. “develop a downtown plan ... and provide design guidance to support quality commercial and institutional development in this area”; and B. “Identify key focus areas to concentrate commercial/retail activity to create commercial synergy” (from page 24).